This story is meant to be fairly wholesome, however…
*This story has LGBTQ characters in it, with several transgender characters.
*There’s implied gender transformation shenaniganry - as well as the consequences of these changes.

The Legend of Darumond (Part 1)

Ariel shuddered as her leg sank into the swampy mud. She could have easily turned her ability to sense this off, but the last time she did that, everything felt numb, which felt worse to her than dealing with the feeling of the murk now entering her shoes.

“Everything alright back there?” asked Eris, who was floating a foot above the swamp, with her wispy purple genie tail on full display. “You know you can just float over this like me, right?”

Ariel used her magical strength to free her foot, which was covered in slimy muck. “Still learning… Eeeew…”

“Don’t worry, we’re almost there…” Eris reassured her.

Where, exactly? As genies, both could sense a vast multiverse of alternate realities, some that were nearly identical to their own, save for maybe one person’s snack choice one morning, and some that were bewilderingly different. This was the latter, and yet one of the closest universes to their own… It was called the Hallow, an alternate Earth that was brimming with magic. Those sensitive to magic could often feel its presence, as it lies practically overtop the “regular” Earth realm.

Portals to this strange realm could be found all over their own Earth, but they were often hidden in places that were wild and hard to access by humans. This was by design… And poor Ariel, still not yet a year into her existence as a genie, was ill-equipped to reach this particular portal.

It took a few more minutes of walking (or floating) through this mud soup for the two of them to reach a strange, small hill with a tree on top of it. It wouldn’t have looked so out of place had it not been for the perfectly circular indent – about five feet in diameter – on one side of the hill.

“That’s it,” Eris said, gesturing to the odd spot. “This is a portal to the Hallow.”

“Seems so random… Is it just here naturally, or…?”

“No, the kitsunes made this one. There have been natural portals in the past, but they were sealed up when the kitsunes started to fear humans accessing their world’s magic. It was intentionally put here so that humans would have a hard time accessing it.”

“Well, they nailed that one…” Ariel muttered as she pulled off her ballet shoes and emptied mud out onto the ground.

Eris put her hand near the circle. The spot began to glow. A feminine voice rang out: “I sense there are two near this gateway. A genie is activating the portal, but who is the other? I sense intense magic…”

“I’m Eris. You were expecting me. I have brought along with me a relatively new Angelic Genie named Ariel, who I have been mentoring since her transformation,” Eris answered.

“Ah, Eris, it has been some time. Tell me, has this Ariel experienced the Hallow yet?”

Eris looked at Ariel, who shook her head. “No, she has not.”

“Well, then, Ariel the Angelic Genie-“

“Actually, can we drop the title and call me Ariel Hope?” she asked.

“Sure thing! Ariel Hope, welcome to our realm of the Hallow! Please, both of you, step through the gate…”

The circle appeared to start shimmering, like a puddle of glowing water. Eris reached out to Ariel. “Careful, the first time stepping through a portal like this can be disorienting, even for a genie.”

Ariel reached out and grabbed Eris’s hand. Eris moved through the portal, dragging Ariel along. As soon as her face made it into the portal, her eyes were overwhelmed by all sorts of colors and lights she wasn’t expecting. It was like having a rainbow sandblasted into your eyes. Even for all her power, Ariel quickly became disoriented and dizzy.

All of it happened in a fraction of a second, and they were on the other side. Ariel lost her balance and fell forward onto the ground.

“Ah, so she hasn’t even visited another universe yet, let alone ours,” suggested the feminine voice.

“I remember my first time. It looked something like that.” Eris reached down and pulled Ariel up. Ariel sat down again as her eyes were still spinning. “Don’t worry, Ariel, you’ll get used to it. First time’s always the hardest.”

Slowly, Ariel regained her senses. She looked around at the new surroundings. The trees had pink trunks and teal leaves, vastly different from her home dimension. The leaves even had a soft glow to them. To her left was a woman… A fox woman, in some kind of armor, with blue fur and green hair, sporting six tails, with one or two twitching on occasion. She sensed a different kind of magic – one that felt wild in nature – flowing through the fox woman’s veins.

“You’re a kitsune, I take it?” Ariel asked.

“Indeed I am. I never know what to expect with a djinn, but you’re very cute!” said the kitsune woman. “And I forget that genies like yourself have that special aura in our world…”

“Huh?” Ariel asked as she turned to Eris, only to see Eris was glowing! She was enveloped in a light purple aura.

“Oh, yeah, our magic resonates with the magic of the Hallow, so we have this glowing aura around us at all times – we can’t hide it even if we tried,” Eris explained. “That said…” She conjured a mirror and showed Ariel her reflection. “This is what you look like!”

Indeed, like Eris, Ariel was glowing too! But unlike Eris, there were additional details to her aura; hers was light blue, but she could also see something akin to a halo over her head and a pair of glowing wings. "Oh wow..." Ariel muttered as she gazed at her glowing reflection.

“You certainly weren’t kidding about her being an Angelic Genie! The resonating aura gives it away,” the kitsune hinted.

“So, Ariel, we still have to travel a little to reach the kitsune settlement. Ready to go?” Eris asked.

Ariel stood up and nodded.

“Alright then, I will be here to open the portal for you two when you return!” suggested the kitsune woman. “Until then, safe travels, and I hope you enjoy our world!”

=== The kitsune settlement. ===

Ariel spent the trip trying to absorb all the sights in this strange world. It was so colorful and full of wonder. She even once wondered if the world was simply one child’s overactive imagination made real…

Before long, the two genies were in the midst of a village. Or at least, that’s what it was called; quite frankly, this was a city, albeit one that was made of trees and mud houses, but it was intricate and well thought out. There were even cords to suggest electrical power (or something equivalent). And the kitsunes, they were themselves as colorful as their world. No two were alike; each one had different colored fur, hair, and eyes, and each had varying numbers of tails – one or two had no tails at all!

And a part of her became envious of this society, as she began noting some of the kitsunes didn’t seem to abide by the same gender roles; she was pretty sure some were trans to all sorts of degrees, and no one around here seemed to bat an eye. She wondered if gender roles were even enforced to any degree when she saw a couple of clearly masculine kitsunes wearing dresses.

Eris caught Ariel’s glance at one of these kitsunes. “Trying to figure things out?”

“Yeah, trying to wrap my head around this. It seems like kitsunes haven’t developed rigid gender roles like in our world…”

“You seem jealous, and I don’t blame you. The kitsunes learned a long time ago that forcing people into gender roles leads to disaster. In a world filled with magic, the last thing you want is an angry person in pain… It can be a lot harder to clean up the mess that results and subdue them.”

“Dangit, why couldn’t I have been born here?” Ariel muttered aloud.

“Heh, yeah, you and me both… That said, you’d have been a kitsune. Would you be okay with that?”

Ariel kept staring at the kitsunes, who – other than a curious glance – usually went back to their own devices. “You know, they’re kinda pretty… I might make myself a kitsune form one of these days…”

Interesting… Eris thought. Not something I ever considered for myself.

It took a few minutes for them to reach the center of the city, which had a grand tree, serving as a building. Standing before it was a kitsune man with nine tails, orange fur and golden blonde hair. Eris and Ariel felt him radiate magic power unlike any other kitsune they’d been near so far. He was their leader here, and he was beyond powerful.

He noticed them coming up and moved up to them. “Welcome back, Eris!” he said with a bow. He turned to Ariel. “You must be the other one who came with her, an apprentice of sorts?”

“Ah, yes, I’m Ariel. Ariel Hope, an Angelic Genie.”

The kitsune bowed. “A pleasure to have one such as yourself. I am Temporah, Changemaker kitsune of time. I lead this particular settlement of our people.”

Ariel tilted her head. “Changemaker? And you control time?”

“You didn’t tell her?”

“This was kind of sudden, Temporah. Orders from above and whatnot,” Eris replied. A slight blush of embarrassment could be seen. She knew she probably should have prepped Ariel more for her first meeting with kitsunes.

"Fair enough, I know full well that genies can get blindsided with divine orders.” Temporah turned to Ariel. “You see, I am a kitsune with nine tails. Usually, those of us who develop this number of tails during puberty also develop powers that can shape foundational aspects of a universe. In my case, time. That’s why those with nine tails are called ‘Changemakers,’ as we can change the universe itself if needed. Each of the tail numbers you’ve seen on the way here has a meaning, which drives the kitsune in question.”

“Sounds complicated…” Ariel admitted.

“Certainly, but we learned to live with it,” Temporah replied.

“Actually, I’ve been really intrigued by what I’m noticing about your society. As a trans girl from Earth, I’ve been victim to hurt and hate. And yet…” Ariel began.

“Ah, yes. And yet you see all around you kitsunes that are freely living their gender identities, whatever form it takes. I can see why you might have taken notice. To answer, we allow ourselves free expression, and we’re encouraged to explore who we are at all times. It helps ease our people, and it is particularly helpful for those who wind up with the greatest of burdens…” Eris knew what Temporah meant by the last part…

… But it flew over Ariel’s head. “Can I live here?” she asked.

Temporah let out a hearty laugh. “What an enthusiastic young genie we have here! Certainly, you’re free to live in the Hallow as you please. But knowing you’re Angelic, doesn’t that mean you have duties to others you must attend to?”

“Yeah, you’re right. We’re about two months away from me coming to my first holder…” Ariel sighed.

“No worries, knowing you’re Angelic, you’ll always be welcome to our realm, Ariel!” Temporah said with a smile.

Ariel blushed in turn.

He turned to Eris. “So, you’re here about the Couple’s Lamp, correct?”

“Yes I am. And Ariel, we’ll need you to help,” Eris replied, turning to Ariel

“You will?” Ariel asked, confused.

“Angelic Genies can sense deep curses, so you can spot any leftover curses that we haven’t yet undone. And it’s a time-honored tradition that they also unshackle enslaved genies when their time comes, although it’s not necessarily required,” Eris explained

“Gotcha. But ‘Couple’s Lamp?’” Ariel asked.

“Did you not tell her anything?” Temporah asked, shaking his head. “It is a lamp containing a couple, two who did not want to be separated by the forces of your world at the time. So Darumond decided to make them both genies and share the same lamp…”

“Him again?” Ariel sighed.

“This is where the story I told you on your first day comes together, actually” Eris informed her. “You see, there’s a reason most genies can only grant three wishes to someone before needing to recharge; it’s a buffer of sorts to prevent stress on the universe. To forcibly bind two genies together, that means they can grant six wishes total, which could lead to disaster. And being enslaved, it means they must grant the wishes. We had to hide their lamp here, where the kitsunes don’t care about getting their wishes granted by genies…”

“Because we usually can solve our problems with our own magic,” Temporah added.

“Exactly, and it’s worth noting that the relationship between magic beings and Earth governments hasn’t always been so chummy… There are actually still remnants of a government organization running around that seeks to exploit magic. The Couple’s Lamp in the wrong hands could destroy the Earth!” Eris suggested.

“Yikes, but we’re here to solve that, right? Free them, finally?” Ariel asked.

“Yup! So, Temporah, you have it, right?” Eris asked.

“We had a scare recently, a human investigator got close to the portal on your side. We moved the lamp to another location as a precaution,” Temporah explained.

“Darn. We’ll need to fetch it again. Ariel, let’s-“ Eris began.

“Actually, if this is Ariel’s first time here, why not let her stay? I can send a kitsune with you to guide you, while Ariel learns more here,” Temporah suggested.

“I actually like that idea too! Think it’d be okay, Eris?” Ariel asked.

“It’s not a bad idea. You probably need to learn more about the kitsunes and Darumond anyway. It will be a couple of days, so don’t cause trouble!” Eris said with a wink.

“With that settled, I will send out for those each of you will need. Until then, sit tight…” replied Temporah as he walked into the tree building.

END OF PART 1

By Erica Chrisman (CrystalSeaDragon44)